


The Service Industry

by cryysis



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M, Gen, Rants, Real Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:48:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28190424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryysis/pseuds/cryysis
Summary: Don't read this. Please.
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/Inu no Taishou
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	The Service Industry

**Author's Note:**

> It is definitely not a good thing that I spent three hours typing this into my phone. Started while I was waiting for my shower to warm up and kept going until the hot water ran out. Then I sat on my bathroom floor in a towel for another 90 something minutes to keep writing it.
> 
> This whole thing is literally just a way for me to get my absolutely shitty day out of my head. Please don't take it seriously. I just really needed to vent.
> 
> The rant is separated by a line, feel free to skip it to get to the little bit of actual fic that exists.

Standing inside the lobby, Kagome could only stare at the "broken, please take stairs" signs hanging on the elevator doors.

Normally, taking the stairs was what she preferred. She always had plenty of energy coming home after work; that was the perk of being a night owl. But today... god, today. And everything had started off so _w_ _ell_ , too.

* * *

Sango was back, the team was running smoothly, there'd only been minor issues with orders going out late. It was looking to be a great night!

And then... then her manager happened.

First, she accused their team of "always being on their phones," and so because of that, they were going to replace a crucial kitchen member with someone from _t_ _heir team_. She didn’t have the balls to say it to their faces, but she was more than happy to talk about it to the person being replaced, WHO ONLY WORKED THAT JOB.

Of course, the member of their team who happened to over hear the conversation didn't bother to say a word in their defense. _Didn't want to start drama,_ she said. Considering this was the same girl who didn't want to tell a manager that she saw some guest recording everything in their store when there had been an attempted break in not even a week before, it was more likely she was just a coward.

And then to find out the accusation had come from a guest manager who screwed the team over by telling someone not nto come in for their shift because of "labor" and then had the _nerve_ to complain when they were struggling with the workload? And then got pissy when she asked why they weren't doing something and was told they hadn't done it since the dinning room reopened? Pissy enough to call _her_ manager about, so he _called the store_ to _talk to her_ k about making the other woman feel welcome?

Yeah, that hadn't gone over well.

But they'd been good. They didn't confront her; they'd bitched about it with some rather fierce cursing in the kitchen (making the same manager tell them as she walkedaway to 'mind their language,') but they didn't say anything. They'd gotten it out of their systems and went back to work.

About an hour later, she made it worse.

With the pandemic, they were trying to stick to curbside for everyone's safety, but it wasn't the end of the world if a guest came inside to order out. Frustrating, as it interrupted the flow, but it was manageable. Actually preferred when it was going to take the guest a while to figure out what exactly they wanted.

A guest came, who Kagome had spoken with the other day on the phone, to place a catering order. There were plenty of special instructions and going back and forth between options, so her coming inside was helpful since it wouldn't tie up the phones. They'd built up a rapport, and Kagome was still able to cash out checks and help input orders. Everything was going great. A server was waiting to cash out and had been waiting for a bit, but unfortunately when there was a guest at the register that was just the way of it. Guests came first.

The manager had come over a few minutes ago and was hovering at the register. Nothing unusual, until at the first long break in the conversation for Kagome to write out changes to the order, she told the guest, word for word, "just so you know we're only doing curbside for guests not dining in right now. We appreciate your business and don't want you to feel unwelcome, but next time we ask that you order from your car."

The guest looked baffled and more than a little pissed off, but agreed willingly enough. But Kagome _fumed_. It wasn't that the manager had done her job, that was understandable. It was the clear disregard for the guests feelings, *her* feelings as an employee, and the fact that if the guest hadn't been so understanding (since she used to work for the company,) there was _nothing_ stopping her from taking her huge order, and the huge _tip,_ elsewhere. And if the manager had such a damn problem with it, she should have said something to the hosts who _let her through the door_ in the first place!

As soon as the manager walked away, Kagome was quick with an apology. The guest brushed it off, but was definitely upset with the manager. Still, they pushed through until all of the details were figured out and she was ready to apply a saved payment.

The woman had a large number of gift cards to use, but unfortunately the system would only let them be put in manually. A bit of a pain, but nothing that took forever. She got a phone call and had to step away for a moment; her young daughter continued to stand at the register. The server, incorrectly assuming she was done, came up to the counter to be checked out. But another order hadn't been put in yet and was due in 10 minutes so, being a responsible team member, Kagome had put the order in and then started on the gift cards. _E_ _xactly what she was supposed to do._

Rather than correct the server in front of the guest, Kagome continued until everything was entered and the guest left. As she started to check out the server, she brought it up: while it was completely understandable that she wanted to leave, when a guest (or their children) were at the register, the server needed to stand to the side until they left. The guest had to come first.

The server was _not_ having it. Apparently under the impression (which Kagome found out later) that she was 'fiddling with papers' and 'messing around on the computer,' the server copped an attitude, complaining that Kagome could have cashed her out when the woman walked away, that she lived an hour and a half away, and continued to give her an attitude when Kagome tried to de-escalate a suddenly huge issue.

Then the manager, the stupid, _idiot_ manager, stepped in.

Now, it was no secret that Kagome had a formidable temper. When she argued, or even just got loud, _everyone_ heard her. She was a passionate woman and not afraid to stand up for herself when she thought a manager was treating her like trash. And knowing this about herself, she would be the first to admit when she hit that point (and apologize when it was necessary.) As of yet, the only time she’d been loud that day was when she’d been complaining earlier in the kitchen. That was it.

This manager, rather than ask what was going on, told them not to argue in front of the guests. While a valid point, Kagome baffeldly protested the accusation, and explained she’d been helping a guest. The manager, who had apparently been watching the whole time, said the server could have been cashed out when the guest walked away, and refused to listen when Kagome tried to tell her about the other order. She was only told not to argue in front of the guests. And then...

And _then._

Instead of taking the obviously irrate server to the bar to cash them out there, she sent _Kagome_ into the kitchen so the manager could cash her out. Incredibly upset, it didn't register at first what had been said. When it clicked, Kagome held the door before the manager could completely close it and said in confusion that she could cash out the server. It wasn't a problem. The managers response?

She needed to stop blocking the door and go in the back.

 _Fuming_ was putting Kagome’s reaction in the mildest terms possible. But she did as was told and went to the very back of the kitchen, as out of the way and with as little human interaction as possible. She was more than ready to blow. But she stayed silently fuming.

And then this stupid, * _stupid_ * manager, who couldn't be bothered to use her brains or her damned eyes, followed her to the back and calm as you pleased, asked for the register key that was sitting _r_ _ight next to the computer._

Struggling to keep her calm, Kagome told her where it was and let the manager walk away. And then she did something she’d only ever done once before in her life.

She punched the ice machine so hard she nearly split her knuckles open.

The flare of pain helped, but only mildly. So she gave herself another minute to swallow it down, then went back up front to do her job.

And what does the manager do? Pull her to the fucking back. Why? Because the manager, in all her wisdom, decided then and there would be the time to try and "talk" to her. Apparently Kagome’s response of "I really can't talk about this right now" (since, you know, still more than a little upset) was "unacceptable."

Things went downhill from there. And Kagome got _loud_.

The problem was, when Kagome was angry, she couldn't focus enough to get all of her thoughts out. She spoke on instinct. And instead of even offering to listen to her side, the manager told her _again_ that she couldn't argue in front of the guest.

But she hadn't said a _word_ to the server about her attitude. Even admitted it when Kagome asked. But was sure to tell _Kagome_ that she was being nice by not writing her up for _arguing in front of the guests_.

Kagome lost it. But rather than really start screaming and potentially lose her job, she walked away. Breathing was becoming hard; she could barely stop to tell Sango she needed to go outside before she was out the door.

She made it across the lawn and to a tree, hidden from sight, before she collapsed. She sucked in breath after ragged breath while she cried, frustration keeping her from being able to fully calm down. She had no idea how long she'd sat in the dark, hearing only the cars passing her by and her ragged breathing.

She watched one of her team run orders outside, watched both managers come outside ( _probably looking for me_ , she’d thought viciously), watched guests come in and out of the restaurant. Let herself really, finally calm down. Then she picked herself back up, and went back to work.

Sango talked a bit about what had happened, told her she'd stood up for her friend to both the server and the manager. But they didn't talk about it anymore after that. It was done, it was over, she was ready to work.

The rest of the night went like clockwork. No one said anything to her about it, and she moved on. There was a level of surprise that she hadn't been pulled into the office, but Kagome let it go.

She should have known better. The closing manager ambushed her when the restaurant closed.

He played it off as not wanting her to get in trouble, but he had been just as unwilling to listen (or believe) her side of the story. Just told her she shouldn't be putting herself in a position to argue with a manager, as if she hadn't tried to take herself _out_ of it. Just told her she needed to let it go and not "take things so personally."

Well she’d been trying, and then he had to go and bring it up again.

Kagome let him get the 'talk' out of his system, and started eating her food while she waited for her uber. She’d gotten in a few bites when they showed, and had sighed in exhaustion when they dropped her off.

* * *

Now, facing the prospect of having to climb all those stairs, and then _f_ _inish_ her food...

She wanted to cry.

There was no way she could make herself finish her food. Didn't even know if she'd be able to make herself shower, and she hated going to bed dirty. What was she supposed to do?

Kagome must have been standing there longer than she’d thought, because someone poked their head of their apartment to check on her.

"Higurashi?"

Willing herself not to cry, she took a deep breath before looking to see who’d called her name. And wasn’t that just the icing on the cake?

Toga opened the door further, bracing his hand against the frame. Gray cotton pants hung low on his hips; his black henley clung to his chest, long silver hair pulled up into a messy bun but still dripping water.

A freshly showered and clearly getting ready for bed Toga. Life just was. not. _fair._

“Hi Toga,” she finally managed, standing a little straighter to try and seem less like her life was crushing her. “Everything okay?”

“I should be asking you that.” Her neighbor eyed her worriedly. “You’ve been standing there for almost 10 minutes.”

Kagome tried to smile, but it was half hearted at best. “Couldn’t help staring through the eyehole, could you?”

Toga’s answering smile was kind. “You work late, so I try to stay up and listen to make sure you get home safely.”

That… was _i_ _ncredibly_ sweet, and made her want to cry all over again. “Toga it’s a miracle if I ever make it home before midnight, why would you do that? You work super early in the morning, you need to sleep!”

The older male shrugged, unconcerned. “I do it because I want to. If it was really a problem, I wouldn’t do it.”

Sighing, Kagome’s smile was more relaxed when she thanked him. “I appreciate it. But I’m home, so you should get some sleep. You have clients who rely on you.”

He was clearly still worried, but he wouldn’t want to keep her from her own rest. Toga tried one more time. “Are you sure you’re alright? You don’t need anything?”

Kagome shook her head and finally made her way to the stairs. “I’m fine, but thanks. Get some sleep, Toga. I’ll see you later, okay?”

She barely heard his ‘alright,’ in reply, but she felt his eyes on her as she made her way up the stairs. Once out of sight, she waited. When she thought she heard his door close, she sighed.

“Way to screw that one up, Kagome,” she muttered darkly, looking forlornly at the walls. But the privacy of her apartment was calling her, and she trudged along to answer the summons.

~

Groaning tiredly, Kagome climbed out of her bed to answer the insistent knocking at her door. At least it was past noon, she’d managed to get in a couple hours of sleep at least. She might even work up the energy to shower since she’d passed out on her couch rather than sleep dirty in her bed.

The knocking came again.

“I’m coming!” She yelled, glaring daggers at the door. Her uneaten dinner sat on the counter where she’d left it; her stomach rumbled it’s displeasure.

_Gonna have to make some food._ Yawning, she undid the lock and swung open her door to lay into whoever thought waking her up was a good idea. _“What?!”_

The delivery boy looked slightly terrified, and rightfully so. A pissed off, barely awake Kagome was not to be trifled with. “D-Delivery for Kagome Higurashi?”

Blinking, she frowned and held out her hand to take the bag. "I didn't order anything."

"Yes ma'am, I-I mean, no ma'am. Someone asked me to deliver it to you."

"Oh." She flushed sheepishly. "Uh, thank you? Do I owe you anything or--?"

"No ma'am, it's been taken care of." Stepping back, he offered her a smile. "Have a good day."

"Uh, thank you," she said distractedly, shutting the door when he walked away.

The bag wasn't extremely heavy, but she could hear liquid sloshing inside it. Setting it on the counter, she pulled it open.

Inside was a thermos of her favorite tea from the cafe down the street, one of their breakfast sandwiches, and a blue berry muffin.

Kagome sniffles and wiped at her eyes, a special warmth filling her heart. Only one person had seen her come home yesterday, and only one person knew her favorite drink.

Biting her lip on a smile, she went to her bedroom and picked up her phone, typing quickly.

_*Thank you, Toga.*_

_Feel better, Higurashi._

* _Bring yourself up next time so we can share it._ *

It took a moment for him to respond, but it made her eyes light up with her smile.

* _It’s a date_.*


End file.
